Electric sheep in my dreams
by HK-Revan
Summary: What if a different person traveled back in time? Would things be different? Or would it get worse?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So what if someone else got thrown into the past? Think things would be easier?

* * *

"Captain!"

It was not a good day to die. What was left of the Citadel fleet was trying to protect the Destiny Ascension while also attempting to destroy the geth monstrosity that had simply pushed past them and into the Citadel, closing it up. Then there were geth ships shooting them, making all those fears about the synthetics rising up and destroying organics come true. There was nothing like the feeling of watching your fellow soldiers die as their ship was plowed straight through, as if they had offered no resistance.

Captain Velkon swore, his mandible pressed against his face, knowing that his men may not survive the new minutes. They had to hold out until their reinforcements came. If reinforcements came before they all got blown into bits. What may happen is that they would all got blown up and then their reinforcements would come along and get blown up as well. Damn the quarians for building the geth. Damn them for not dealing with the threat, content with the geth hiding behind the Perseus Veil.

"Sir...sir there are more signals...sir..."

"What is it flight lieutenant?"

"Sir..." He could hear her voice pitch even higher in her panic. "We have incoming."

"Who is it?"

"Geth." The flight lieutenant turned in her seat, fear in her eyes. "Sir. From the relay."

From the supposedly closed relay. The only reason why there weren't any reinforcements coming in, the reason why the Destiny Ascension could not leave.

"Spirits."

Captain Velkon was somewhat related to Spectre Nihilus. He was also a captain in the Citadel defense fleet, thus making him one of the few people on the Citadel that knew when things were happening. While this may be the most boring job this side of the galaxy, it was quite rewarding. Once in a while, he even got to chase down a smuggler or two. Of course, nothing was as amazing as having the Destiny Ascension looming over your shoulder as you threaten some two bit thug. You had to hand it to the asari, they know how to build a terrifying ship in the shape of an oval. But that wouldn't save them from the geth ships firing from all corners, taking full advantage of the ship's blind spots and it's ill maneuverability. He got a tour once, only got to see one part of the ship and that took an entire day of walking. To think that such a magnificent ship would fall...

His mind focused on the battle at hand. If he were to die today, he would die saving the lives of others.

"Prepare to fire. We need to hold the line." The screen before him showed the futility of their last moments. The incoming geth signatures would sandwich them between two waves of geth. It would be a far better tactical move to move his ships and to continue firing, breaking their support of the Destiny Ascension. It was a kill zone out there. The screams of the dying flooded their communications array as well with orders and demands, and the strange machine warbling of the geth.

More red dots appeared on the screen, more geth coming in from the relay. "What is that." Breathed out the captain, spotting the massive signature.

"I think it's a dreadnought." His XO leaned against the railing, his claws holding onto the metal tightly. "

It was a large ship. It probably had enough firepower to turn them all into cosmic dust. Around it was a swarm of geth fighters, dropships, cruisers. Over three hundred years worth of manufacturing weapons and ships, it was a wonder that there was so little of them. If what you consider their small armada to be little. If only the rest of the fleet were not distributed across council space and that monstrosity of a ship hadn't plowed through their fighters with a single mindedness that bordered on the terrifying. Saren will pay for his treachery, for his insanity, for besmirching the image of turians.

"It's firing!"

"Brace for impact." It was a useless thing to say. If that thing hit them, they would get destroyed, incinerated on impact and then frozen by space. But it was instinct, it was comforting. He thought of his wife and their daughter, hopefully safe on the Citadel.

* * *

A few minutes ago:

"What should we do? Save the Destiny Ascension or focus on Sovereign?" Shepard began the sequence to open the relays and the Citadel arms. This was not a question you ask a Commander. Save the Council or destroy Sovereign? There was no guarantee by the time they throw the Fifth Fleet at the geth that there would be any ships left over to fight Sovereign. Or that they could fight Sovereign and the geth, sacrificing the Destiny Ascension in the process.

But Shepard didn't get this far seconding guessing herself. "Joker, I want you-WHAT THE FUCK!"

Joker raised both eyebrows as the com channel degenerated into profuse swearing peppered with "Saren!" and "SHOOT IT" and "It's like a frog on Rockstar with lasers. Horrible combination." That sounded a lot like Garrus. He lead half of the Fifth Fleet at the Destiny Ascension. as per Admiral Hackett's orders. It would have been best to get some input from Shepard but as Shepard seemed to be busy, they had to make their own decisions.

Fire rained down, taking out the geth firing on Destiny Ascension. As for the other geth firing on geth...

Joker tugged his hat brim down. "...Not touching that with a ten foot pole."

When the arms opened, the geth firing on other geth, also fired on Soverign.

Yeah, this was not going to go well at all.

A piece of Sovereign crashed into the Citadel chamber where Shepard's last known location was known. She was probably fine, survived the Thorian, survived asari commandos, survived Udina, there was no way a huge leg was gonna kill her.

With Sovereign dead, or hopefully dismembered, there was till the geth. Some of the geth left, while some stayed. With what was left of the Fifth fleet and the Citadel fleet, if the geth armada wished to destroy them all, they probably could. Joker nervously tapped his console. They were now in a rather tense mexican standoff. The dreadnaught was fucking huge. Like someone took an Alliance ship and blew it up with helium. A shit load of helium.

The geth were arranged in a pattern, seemingly inactive. If he hadn't already had the ship's computers targeting them already, they would appear to be wreckage from the space fight. Lord knows there was wreckage, dead bodies, pieces of what used to be turian, salarian and asari fighters. They lost a few ships from the Fifth fleet, less than what was projected. It was still a hard loss to take, just minutes ago he was shooting his mouth off with the other pilots waiting for the green light.

"Joker, link up with Citadel defense, we don't want any sudden movements." It was General Hackett and his voice of reason. "Hopefully someone could tell us what's going on."

Joker glanced at his console, at the blinking light that was Shepard's hard suit. "Yeah, me too."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So I'm also trying this thing on tumblr. Check it out please. I'll get all of the crack fics out of my mind hopefully one day.

It's called masseffectoffics on tumblr.

Anywho, some humor!

* * *

Shepard found herself in a stage between heavily medicated and somewhat hungover. Which shouldn't make sense given that she was certain she had not gotten drunk for at least a week. It took a few minutes to find her legs and her arms and then she slowly opened her eyes. "...mrugh." Okay, need to find tongue and teeth and lips.

"Careful, Commander. You're drugged up to the gills. Don't make any sudden movements or the ceiling will fall on you."

"Wut?" Sometimes Chakwas can be a dick. That or the drugs were really good.

"I said, don't make any sudden movements or you might fall."

"Okay." Shepard said somewhat sternly.

"I'm going to lower the dosage. They had to put you in a medicated coma after you suddenly passed out walking as you were walking out of the council tower. Apparently your suit was ruined and it didn't detect the fact that you were bleeding internally. When they pried you out of your armor, your blood pretty much coated the room."

Ah, she vaguely remembered that. Some poor intern had screamed. "What happened?"

Chakwas hummed as she worked. "Well, when you walked out, someone pointed out that you were leaving a trail of blood. You then turned around, pointed, and said, "I'm leaking." Laughed and then passed out."

"Where's my crew? What happened to them?"

"They're waiting outside. The last thing I need is a herd of concerned crew members flooding the room, getting in the way, poking everything. The last thing you need is more excitement, knowing you Commander, you'd jump out of the hospital bed to fight the geth."

"The geth?"

"Yes..." There was a pause. "Anyways, you should be fine. We did some surgery to repair the parts of you that got shot, crushed, stabbed..."

"Wait, wait. What about the geth?"

"...There's a fleet of geth ships in the nebula. They're just there. No one knows what to do. Given the Council's stance of artificial intelligence..."

"Ugh. Alright. I'm up." And she did sit up, the room wobbling as she did. "Geth? Right, plan of action?"

"Laying back down."

"Doc, I'm fine. Just give me a rifle and say I'm going fishing."

"Commander."

The room swims again and Shepard lies back down. "Whose handling it?"

"The Citadel fleet, or what's left of it. The Fifth fleet lost a few ships as well. There were also many lives lost when Saren took over the Citadel tower. "

"The Councilors?"

"Alive."

"Good."

Chakwas watched as Shepard closed her eyes and fell back asleep. "You're going to be alright Commander." She placed her hand gently on Shepard's shoulder. "You can rest now and leave the rest to us."

She looked up and out the window, at the distant ships hovering outside of the Citadel air space. Would everything be alright? How was Tali taking this?

* * *

For Tali'Zorah, being called a hero for helping save the Citadel was a feat by itself, an accomplishment that no other quarian could claim. That she was standing in a room full of military professionals, STG agents, asari commandos and being expected to stand in front and to give advice was...daunting.

She was here on her own merits, not just because she was a quarian. She was an expert on geth. There was no other expert, even the asari didn't have much time interacting with the geth like she did. The whole reason they were able to chase down Saren was because of her expertise. Yet, despite all of this, Tali still felt a shadow of doubt pass her mind. Her father should be here, or some important person, not her.

"They are parked outside, waiting but for what?"

"What is their ploy?"

"They fired on other geth, or were they not real geth?"

The questions being fired across the room was dizzying. What would Sheaprd do? Tali thought hard on that question. What would Shepard do? She fired up her omnitool, and sent a quick query. before boldly making her way to the communication console. Sometimes you have to do a risky thing in order to accomplish your goals. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. Whatever that is.

"This is Tali'Zorah nar Ryaa calling the geth fleet. Is anyone there?"

There was complete silence as all faces turned to her, to the lone quarian standing before the console, waiting for a reply that may never arrive.

"We hear you..." The voice that replied was different, almost reverent. "Creator Tali'Zorah nar Ryaa."

* * *

"You think she's going to be okay?"

"Which one? The commander or Tali?"

"Both. Either." Ashley sat on the waiting bench, her hands playing with an invisible rifle. "We should be out there, fighting the geth not..."

"Being told to wait in a hospital, awaiting an impending court martial? We did sort of steal a highly classified ship from right under their noses. I can hear my father disowning me right at this moment."

"I suppose this is another thing to add to the Williams history. Helped Commander mutiny, steal ship and sail off to the unknown on a hunch." Ashley added sarcastically.

"We did help save the council." Garrus offered in some semblance of sympathy. "Save the galaxy in fact."

"Having a ticket parade might help."

"Ticket parade?"

"Yeah. You know, a parade in your honor? Marching band and..." Ashley shrugged. "It's a human thing."

"Hmmm."

"You know, you're not a terrible turian." She offered a hand out. "I'm sorry I called you a lizard."

"I'm sorry too. Apparently all you hairless monkeys are not terrible shots after all."

The two soldiers leaned against the wall. "So, what happened to Wrex?"

"I have no clue." Ashley sighed. "Probably shouting at the Commander to get up."

"Why is it that he's allowed in Shepard's room and we're not?"

"Yes." Pressly added dryly. "Why is that?"


End file.
